I have something to tell you
You on the path,
I'm thrilled to write to you today!
I'm typing at home in Portugal, my feet full of sand from my walk at Guincho beach, while drinking green tea from Shizuoka. I slightly miss Japan, and woke up dreaming I was in Osaka (of all places!), but I am enjoying being back home, grounding into the exploration of connecting to one place for longer than I ever had before COVID. The tea nourishes my Japan-craving heart, and serves as a reminder that I will be back soon enough. This morning I went out around 6:30 a.m. to catch Venus being hugged by Jupiter in the sky - what an astrological event! If it weren't for the opposition of Mars with Saturn & Neptune, everything would flow so easily, maybe too easily. Isn't it nice to have some tension? Oppositions can be annoying, but they also ignite us to do things. Otherwise I would probably have stayed at the beach just relaxing, reading a book, staring at the ocean. But I felt driven to come home and write to you. The day is getting warmer here, I'm enjoying the sun coming through the window, and in the patio I see a sitting Buddha smiling softly.
Why am I writing to you now? Well, oppositions in the sky are going to be felt here on Earth through people and "life stuff" that really happens, and that Neptune got me reflecting on death, while Mars impelled me to write about it. Mercury also turned direct, making communication flow. Last month, a friend of mine passed away - she was only 5 years younger than me, and it felt too soon for her to go. Then last week was exactly 19 years since the last time I saw one of my best friends, a man I loved & admired, who died just before turning 33 - and that loss, which fuelled my deeper dives into the meaning of life, became a foundational stone of who I became.
Thinking of Claudia & Bruno, and their passage through my life, I reflected on something I learned from their deaths. We have the time we have, and we don't necessarily need to measure it by quantity. When I think of C. now, I admire how in the last years she was devoted to a project she created in which she trusted so much. Whenever I think of B., I always admire how well he lived his days - a short life, but so intensely lived.
Because B. & I met when I was only 18, and we were two wild teenagers determined to be as real as possible with each other, he became one of the deeper witnesses of how I say YES to things that want to come into my life - especially the ones i didn’t rationally decide to welcome, but who found their way here. B. loved each time I changed course because I met a new person, heard of a new option, got to think of something in a different way, learned a word in a foreign language and that changed how I thought about things, or a song played at a certain time, a book opened at a specific page, or a dream told me where to go. It’s not all people & things that speak in that way, but the ones who do, do.
Maybe because we're in eclipse season, Venus & Jupiter are all cozy in the sky, and I can almost hear B. laugh from his final mountaintop, I feel that wild creative force stirring again. Something new wanting to come through me, just like he witnessed so many times. Today, that force comes as Letters from the Path.
I believe we are made of creative force, an essence so wild that tries to come through us and change things up. It wants us to bring things into the world, to lead us further, to help us be more of who we can be, and bring more change to this collective dance called Life. It comes to us as new people, new wishes, insight, enthusiasm for a project, a wild travel idea, a new passion, a healthy obsession, conversations you just can't wait to have, something you need to write, a dream that becomes too loud. It’s so beautiful when we don't block it. When we allow it to come through us. When we let it become what it wants to be. A lot like falling in love.
I’m so happy to be here today, back to the town where I was born, now at the midsummer point of 2025, only 2.5 years away from turning 50 (so excited for that!!), and I look back and see that my choices and my No's of the last 30 years or so, really opened the way for many cool Yes's. It did all add up to something I fiercely love. I can now see clearly how it all weaves together beautifully, even things that didn't make sense to anyone but myself at the time. It is quite something to trust Life to guide you, to take you exactly where it’s calling you to go. Life knows so much better than we do.
Today, I'm letting this new newsletter come through.
Letters from the Path is a newsletter with wisdom from three decades of nomadic living, psychological practice and spiritual commitment + how to dance with all that in everyday life. It's a space where psychology meets spirituality meets nature meets travel meets body movement - real stories from my 22 years living nomadically, practical wisdom from 30 years on the spiritual path (turning sacred texts and retreats and lessons from teachers & silence into things I can use daily), and lessons of depth from my 25 years working as a psychotherapist. Most of what I want to share comes from lived experience. It all has transformation at the helm.
Letters from the Path comes from remembering that one of my favorite things in life was to email my friends when I was out and about exploring far away lands way before we had social media or YouTube. I'd find a rustic internet café wherever I was, I’d sit down and pour out my travel stories. Much to my surprise, after my first 12-month trip, I got home and a friend had printed it all out and compiled a little book called "As viagens da Rita" - Rita's travels. Hearing what those stories did to him remains one of my treasured memories of my very early twenties. My traveling has always been inner & outer, guided by a deep curiosity about the territory we walk on & the inner stuff that animates our life, and how those collaborate and create. I’ve almost always traveled solo, but knowing it touches others gives it deeper purpose.
Like any good journey, Letters from the Path will reveal itself as we move forward together. Right now it's a little baby, just starting to smile, and feeling grace as we welcome her here! (I met a dog called Grace on my walk this morning, and the word felt just perfect for today).
I’d like to suggest a little pause, looking around the space, and feeling into GRACE. Whatever may be present in your life, simple or huge, tiny or intricate, that is bringing you a sense of g r a c e at this very moment. Take that in, expand it, inhale it, let it glow.
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On all my walks & pilgrimages, my travels, my work, and my daily being on the path, I know that one of the reasons why we do this is to meet and connect and share. This would not make sense without You! THANK YOU for being here! Obrigada!
Happy to walk with You,
Rita
